FrameMaker and DITA : Template and associated sample files

[Bernard Aschwanden]

Hi to all:

I've been meaning to send something out to the list for a few weeks now and I'm just about ready to upload a set of templates and associated files. They are a subset of a project I've been working on for a client, but are a pretty solid proof of concept. Each of the four major DITA elements (Topic, Concept, Task, Reference) are supported and you have some pretty good flexibility on what you place and where.

There is even some very neat reuse of content within FrameMaker through the use of InsetPlus from www.weststreetconsulting.com (and I couldn't live with myself if I used Structured Frame without the equally awesome and completely underpriced Structure Tools 1.0) so please visit that site as well.

I'll be showing the files in a lot of detail at the DITA Conference for anyone who is attending. If you don't know about it yet, check into http://www.travelthepath.com/conf/ to read more about it.

Within the template set there is support for nested content, tables, figures, cross-references, variables, formatting of paragraphs and characters, automated master page application and more. It's a pretty complete file set and has been tested a lot in the past few weeks. There are a few minor things that I want to resolve in the next week or two and then I'll likely have it ready to hand out to others.

However, it is a freebie. To that end, the file set has little if any documentation right now (I'll be working on it some more tomorrow and through to next week). The files have some formatting, but much of it is 'locked' into the EDD so if you don't know how to work the EDD it may be tough to do a lot of format modification. The files can be shared freely, but please remember that this is my intellectual property and that I've put a lot of time into making this work. The document set has a legal disclaimer stating that there is no promise made that it will do anything. If you do share it, please give credit where it is due. If I find that business grows by doing this then I'm more than willing to continue to develop and share as I figure out additional tricks to get the software to do what I want...

There is an EDD, a set of Read/Write rules, a template, some transforms to ensure that the outgoing content is working with DITA and the incoming works with Frame. There are a lot of people who have already tested the full doc set and there is some degree of support for books and maps that I'm working on. It's rather neat to see that I can write in the FrameDITA-lite template, export to XML and then re-import that content into FrameMaker using the default files from Adobe and get the content converting with no errors.

I've also restricted what is allowed and where it is allowed. For example, the "shortdesc" element is optional in DITA, I've made it required. DITA allows a lot of content (such as 'character formats' and text or even <p> elements) to be inserted just about anywhere. I've restricted that to ensure that a <p> is inserted as the parent. When you do use the templates, be cautious with your use of the elements.

I'm giving away a lot of the work that I did to get this to work, but there will be limits on what you can do with it. For example, numbering and bullets only go to two levels with proper formatting. So do headings. I only use about 50 elements in total and a bulk of those are for tables and tasks, so don't expect that DITA content in XML format will automatically import. This is a subset and is free, and I'm hoping that people who see this and are interested in getting a 'real' set of files follow up with me.

I do have some conversion tables that I've used to correctly convert Frame content to the structured files so it is possible to convert legacy content to DITA using this.

You really should have FrameMaker 7.2 if you want to use the "save as xml" and so on, but you can survive with 7.1 from a writing only standpoint. Additionally, if you create content with 7.1 and want to have me try to convert it, send the file (please zip it first and remember to include images if you want them parsed). Finally, if you do send files, please keep the zip to under 3 or 4 MB in total size. Also, if you have legacy files and would like me to convert them feel free to send one and I'll test it out for you (at least part of it) and send you back something to work with.

In the next week or two I should be ready to release this and I'll post a link to this group to let you know where to find the files. I'll have PDF samples with a couple of different layouts to show the formatting options (you can do a LOT of DTP using Frame with DITA and I'll try to show that) as well as some support files.

If you can't wait a week or two, send me a quick note and we can talk about the beta files in a bit more detail :)

Thanks all and I hope to get some good feedback on the doc set when it is released.

Bernard



Bernard Aschwanden
Publishing Technologies Expert
Publishing Smarter

bernard at publishingsmarter.com 

www.publishingsmarter.com